China poses business opportunity for aged care providers

Three South Australian aged care providers will join forces to tap into China’s growing aged care industry and share their knowledge overseas.

Eldercare, Southern Cross Care and Life Care have formed a joint entity named Australian Ageing and Wellness Services (AA&WS), and have secured their first contract to deliver coaching and development services for the aged care sector in Yantai, Shandong.

The 12-month contract is with the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, which has recently opened an aged care facility in Penglai.

The partnership will see four Australian nurses working alongside Chinese hospital staff on three-month clinical rotations. AA&WS will also work with the Department of Civil Affairs as well as public and private aged care services in the area.

AA&WS chair Brendan Bowler said there were significant business opportunities for Australian aged care providers to offer training and support to Chinese organisations as the demand for aged care services increases.

It is estimated that 330 million Chinese people will be aged over 60 by 2030.

“China’s ageing population, coupled with the impact of the one child policy and the significant mobility of the Chinese population in search of work, has made it virtually impossible for middle class families to continue the tradition of caring for all their ageing relatives,” Bowler said.

“This presents an exciting opportunity for Eldercare, Southern Cross Care and Life Care to share our capabilities internationally, generate new business opportunities and offer employees the chance to work and learn together to implement high quality services in a new and challenging environment.

“Australia’s sophisticated aged care system is of great interest to China and there is a willingness for the Chinese to rapidly learn how to support their aged population through the lessons of Australia.

“We know that our collective knowledge and experience is highly valued in the emerging aged care sector in China and that this work will have a positive impact on our Chinese business partners,” Bowler said.

Business opportunities in the Chinese aged care market are reported to be worth approximately A$787 billion and are expected to grow to A$2.5 trillion by 2030.